Trigger Warning: mentions of blood, suicide, and PTSD.

I'd like to thank ALL of you for being so patient with me! Life and finals decided to kick my ass and I finally have the time to write again! I've had this sitting in my documents just waiting to be edited and refined. I'd love to thank you all for taking the time to read this!

EDIT: I forgot to mention! I'm working on a side fic with my good friend and in-law, Barely Meeting Expectations, with their OC, Marcus. It'll be up in the near future with scenes that couldn't make it in here. Most of them will feature Lynn and Marcus together being the dorks they are. The plan is that, after I start posting that story, I'll start incorporating Marcus in here. I'll put in another edit with the title for anyone who's interested. Thank you and I love you guys!

All was silent save for the sounds of her heavy breathing and hiccups. Lynn pressed the back of her wrists to her eyes and made an effort to calm herself. She felt the weight of Sans's stare on her and she was a little embarrassed to show so much of herself to him. It took all of her remaining willpower she still had to choke down the rest of her tears. Once she felt steady enough she let her hands fall into her lap and gave Sans a thin-lipped smile.

"Sorry," she whispered, her voice hoarse from the onslaught of emotions. She cleared her throat a few times before she continued, "Didn't mean to lose it. What's going on with you..?"

She watched the skeleton shrug and recline lazily against the tree. His eyes watched her carefully, as if weighing her every emotion on her face before closing his eyes completely. Confusion edged with irritation bubbled up and Lynn shifted uncomfortably. They sat in silence for a long while, long enough for Lynn to start contemplating the best way to get Sans home, before the skeleton's eyesockets opened an inch.

"we were stuck down there for a long time," he started softly, voice barely above a murmur. "long 'nough for people t' start turnin' to desperate answers. Not all of 'em were good and many paid th' price for it."

The bitterness in his voice had Lynn's breath catch in her throat. She watched him as he tilted his head back, hitting the trunk with a quiet thump, and allowed his eyesockets to drift open again. She couldn't read his expression very well but she got an air of bitter sorrow from him. His pupils drifted up and his features relaxed a small amount. Lynn followed his gaze and smiled softly at the summer constellations drifting slowly above them.

"none of us have seen the stars for a very long time." The skeleton's tone was small, fragile. "they are so much more beautiful in person."

Lynn had nothing to say to that. Instead she lowered her gaze to her companion and watched as his eyesockets soften in awe. A small smile graced her lips and twitched as a thought crossed her mind. She debated for a second before clambering back onto her feet. Sans ripped his attention from the stars to watch her. She crossed the few yards that separated them, not missing how the skeleton's body tensed, and plopped back down a foot or two away from him. At his curious look she merely smiled and refocused on the dark sky above them. Lynn searched for a moment before lifting her hand and tracing a pattern in the sky.

"That constellation is Capricorn, or properly in Latin Capricornus. Do you see it Sans?"

There was a moment of surprised silence before a shuffle of clothing and bones met her ears. Her breath hitched when she felt a bony knee nudge hers and heard the subtle creak of his bones as he craned his neck to see the area she was pointing in.

"mind showin' me again?"

Her finger connected the small twinkling dots again. A breath that could've been an awed gasp puffed over the exposed skin of her neck. A tiny tremor ran down her spine.

"Most of the constellations' names come from ancient Greek and Roman myths. Each one has a story behind them."

She felt his interest peak. "snow kiddin'?"

A rather unladylike snort erupted from her along with a chuckle. "I Kepler you not. You wanna stay an' hear them or Galileoutta here?"

Wide grins spread over their faces moments before laughter bubbled from their throats. The forest echoed with their mirth and the stars were witness to the two rolling around in the short grass like two lifelong friends.

"i'd like that," Sans wheezed, wiping a startlingly blue tear from the corner of his eyesocket. He sent a wide grin at Lynn and turned his face back up towards the sky. "tell me 'bout this capri-."

"Capricorn, Sans." There was friendly admonishment in Lynn's voice and she felt her cheeks heat at the attention. "Here's how the one I know goes..."

The Next Morning

"Lynn, are you absolutely sure you need to bring Frisk along with you and Sans?"

"Frisk has a good eye for details Tori. If there is anything the police have missed at the crime scene she would be the one to find it."

Toriel crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the younger woman with stern eyes. "I am concerned with her well being. What if you and Sans are attacked by that thing?"

"I'm pretty damn sure a retired Marine and a skeleton can handle anything that attacks us just fine. She'll be fine Tori."

The monster merely stared down at her for a few long moments, teeth gritting as she rolled that over in her head. Beside her Frisk waited patiently for her mother to give her permission. The child rocked back and forth on her heels and swung her arms. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Toriel huffed a defeated sigh and shook her head.

"Alright. I will let her go only with the knowledge that she is in safe hands. I trust you will bring her back unhurt."

Lynn saluted the monster, an edge of playfulness in her actions, and turned to Frisk. "You got everythin' kiddo?"

Frisk nodded and tugged her backpack higher on her shoulders. Toriel's lips lifted as she kneeled and engulfed the child in a hug. "You will be good for them, yes?"

"I will Mom. Promise."

Lynn smiled at the exchange, an edge of wistfulness tinging the motion, and gently led the child out and around the corner to the truck. She stopped short when she saw a figure already laying across the seats. A huff escaped her lips when she saw a flash of bone; it was only Sans being, well, Sans. She opened the driver side door, startling him awake, and gave him an amused stare.

"Budge up, Lazy Bones," she joked, lifting Frisk into the cab and setting her on the seat as Sans begrudgingly moved.

"'ey, a guy's gotta catch some shut-eye while he can," Sans yawned, lazily tugging the seatbelt over him.

"Yeah, yeah," Lynn dismissed, tossing a playful grin at the skeleton to soften the words. "Ya know, I know a way to cure yer lazy tail."

"i'd like to hear this one."

Lynn's smile widened as she started the truck. "It's a little thing we call 'Bootcamp'."

The old, battered truck rolled to a stop, dirt and gravel crunching underneath the tires. Lynn coughed lightly when she popped the door open, waving her hand in a useless attempt to filter out the air some. She hopped out and turned to give Frisk a hand in sliding out. Sans was already out of the truck and rounding the bed when Lynn shut the door after Frisk, his gaze on the fluttering yellow tape several yards to their left.

"we better stay hidden," Sans commented, voice low, "you got the camera and gloves?"

"Yeah," Lynn said, holding up a box and a camera dangled from her wrist. "You have the evidence bags Alphys gave us?"

"yeah. gimmie a pair of those, would ya?"

Lynn pulled out a pair of latex gloves and handed them over to the skeleton, sliding on a pair herself. She quickly checked the camera's battery, biting her lip when it indicated it was half drained. She did a quick mental calculation and sighed, powering it down and tucking it into her palm.

"Come on, we'll start near the treeline and go from there."

The three made their way towards the trees and spread out to cover more area. Frisk took to looking into the trees while Sans examined the ground nearby. Lynn paced closer to the yellow crime scene tape and scrutinized the general area and how it was laid out.

"This would be a great place to hunt," she muttered, thinking out loud, "Not much human contact, plenty of trees for hiding. It's likely the attack happened simply because someone was going for a late night walk at the wrong place."

"Lynn!" Frisk called, startling the woman into spinning around. The human was crouched just inside the tree line and looking at something rather closely.

"Find something?" Lynn confirmed, jogging to the child's side and crouching beside her.

"I think so. Look." Frisk pointed to the broken branches and tufts of fur caught in the splinters.

Lynn ruffled her hair affectionately. "This is exactly what we're looking for. Great job Frisk, we'll make a tracker out of you yet." The werewolf looked over her shoulder and extended a hand. "Sans, I need a bag."

"a 'please' would be nice," he quipped dryly, dropping a bag in her palm.

She didn't bother giving that an answer, instead powering on the camera, snapping a photo of the evidence before bagging the tufts and sealing it tightly.

"Here, hold onto this, please," she said to Sans, who only gave her an unamused look before tucking it away. She merely smiled toothily in answer and went back to examining the evidence.

"It looks like it was big." She crept forward, eyes narrowed in concentration. She rubbed her nose absentmindedly. "Going fast enough to snap these without a thought. Going fast that way." She flicked her fingers to the left and sniffed. Her stare dropped to the soft ground and picked out a deep indention. "Holy—! Look at the size of these fuckin tracks!" She dipped a finger in what looked like a back pawprint and it went up halfway to her second knuckle. "The fucker was heavy! At least four-hundred pounds!"

"Remember to take a picture," Frisk reminded her and Lynn jumped slightly, completely forgetting they were there.

"Right. Thanks." Lynn snapped a picture and shuffled forward. Her heart stuttered in amazement when she found another print, at least fifteen feet away from the last set.

"The bastard was booking! Look at the size of that stride! It was definitely chasing his prey." She quickly snapped another picture and rubbed her nose irritably. "It's definitely back heavy—look at the depth of the front paws..." The woman trailed off, narrowing her eyes and stooping to take a closer look. A finger trailed over the indentations and clearly marked pads. "This... looks really familiar... I can't... place where I've... seen these before..."

"lynn, we got what we need. lets go before the feds catch us."

The woman huffed, sneezing a second after and she rubbed her nose. "Fuckin hell, the smell's driving me insane!"

"Smell? What smell?" Frisk sniffed herself and her face scrunched with confusion. "I don't smell anything unusual."

Lynn growled irritably under her breath, sniffing like she has a cold. "You're human, kiddo. Humans don't have a good sense of smell."

"You do?" Frisk asked, gazing up at the werewolf curiously. "Do you know your eyes are glowing?"

"Yes, to both questions." Lynn scrubbed at her reddened nose to try and relieve the tickling inside of it. "The eyes do that when I'm tapping into something I call 'werewolf magic'. It's unconscious, for the most part. The crazy enhanced sniffer is part of that and it's irritating to all fucking hell!"

"what do you smell?" Sans asked, suddenly interested as he led them back the way they came.

"When I can get a full breath in? I can't really describe it. I guess it's... walnuty? And spicy..? It reminds me kinda of a cross between two of my friends when they Changed... It reeks of a newly turned, and is pungent enough to be a male..."

"so what we're dealing with is a male werewolf that's been recently turned?"

When put that way... "Yeah, that's what I'm getting out of it. But we gotta get these samples back to Alphys to analyze to know for certain. Come on Frisk, why don't we stop to get something to eat?"

"O-oh! Y-y-your back already! A-any success?"

Lynn smiled kindly down at the nervous lizard monster and handed her the camera. "There's some good pictures of the evidence we got. Broken branches, tracks, the like. Sans has the fur we got from it."

Sans shuffled up and dropped the bags of fur they had into Alphys's palm. "you still can use these, right?"

Alphys examined the fur from over glasses, demeanor changing. "I-I should if I c-can get anything from t-the root. I need a sample of L-Lynn's fur to make an accurate comparison."

"Um," Lynn bit her lip uncertainly. "Alright. I'll be back to get some."

Alphys glanced at her, a scrutinizing look in her eye. Most traces of her stuttering self has disappeared, replaced by the collected mindset of a dedicated scientist. "I need fur w-with the root still attached. Most shed hair w-won't have it. The best way is to collect it o-ourselves."

The blood drained out of Lynn's face and she shook her head firmly. "There's no way I'm Changing just for that."

"It's just to collect what w-we need, Lynn. S-surely you can handle that."

Lynn shook her head again, a hard glint in her eye and voice, "No. Nothing less than a bullet to the brain will trigger that. It hurts like a fuckin bitch when I Change that way. It's a hundred times fuckin worse. I will get you your damned sample and you can work with that. Stay here."

With that, that werewolf spun on her heel and stalked out of the stunned room. Lynn stalked her way back through town, good mood ruined, and she vaguely heard two sets of steps follow behind her. She gritted her teeth in annoyance and stepped up her pace. Don't they know how to follow orders?! She told them to stay and they directly disobeyed her!

Lynn snorted as she rounded the bend to head to the cabin and was pleased to hear Alphys panting behind her. Sans called for her to wait but she ignored him, instead turning the corner to stomp up to her cabin, yank the door open, ignore the smell of her own blood, and stalk over to the rug. She kicked the worn rug aside and tugged the trapdoor open, gritting her teeth at the screech the metal hinges made.

"Lynn!" Alphys panted as she leaned against the doorway. The werewolf huffed as she sat on the edge of the opening, sending an annoyed glare to the lizard monster, who looked even more guilty.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't m-mean to b-be so in-insensitive! Oh god, I-I'm s-screwing t-this up, a-aren't I?"

Lynn took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She managed to get the worst of her irrational anger down before she turned to a positively shaking Alphys and a silent Sans behind her.

"It's not something I like to talk about, Alphys." Lynn took another steadying breath. "I'm sure you of all people can understand. It brought up a bad memory and I'm sorry for reacting like that..." The werewolf offered a small smile, testing the waters some. "I understand that you didn't know and I forgive your ignorance. I just ask that you not touch on that."

At Alphys's nod Lynn sighed and rolled her shoulders. "I'll be back. Please, stay here this time. I really don't want any of you to see this."

With that, Lynn grasped the ladder rungs and quickly descended, years of practice making this much easier. Her stomach lurched at the stench of blood and distress, threatening to make her vomit up her lunch. With a gulp, she pushed it down and concentrated on getting what she needed.

The FBI agents also took samples of her fur and blood the day before, though they were not thorough enough in their collecting. Lynn found some almost right away, caught in a panel that had come slightly loose at some point or another. Some of them looked like they still had the roots attached so she carefully pulled them loose and held them in between her fingers while she hunted for more. It didn't take her too long to collect what was there and before she knew it she was climbing up the ladder again.

"Someone hand me a bag please," Lynn said when her head popped out of the opening. Sans was already on it, thrusting a small clear bag at her head and holding it while she dropped the tufts of fur into it.

"Thanks." Lynn gave Sans a small smile and hefted herself out of the opening, nudging it closed with her foot. The CLANG of it shutting made them all jump and the werewolf hurried to cover the trap door.

"S-so t-that's what's u-u-under there," Alphys mused, eyeing the rug.

Lynn glared at the same rug, a feeling of loathing welling up in her chest. "Trust me when I say that you don't want to go down there. I ask both of you to leave it alone." The werewolf took a breath and shook her head. She held out the bag to Alphys, slapping a smile onto her face. "Anyway, the samples you asked for. Make use of them as you will."

The lizard monster took them with slightly shaking fingers, a nervous grimace on her lips. "T-thanks. I-I need to get back t-to start analyzing e-everything.

"we'll walk ya there. need to swing by grillby's anyway." Sans grinned and motioned towards the door. "ladies first."

"Civilians first," Lynn countered without a thought, drawing confused stares from her companions. She blinked and a sheepish grin spread over her lips. "Sorry, old habit. Um, go ahead."

The three filed out and started back towards town. An uncomfortable silence descended upon them as each of the three were sucked into their own thoughts. Before they knew it they were standing outside the nearly finished bar, halfway to the house Alphys and Undyne shared and the makeshift lab.

"hey, look at that, we're here." Sans pointed out, startling both of the women.

"T-thanks for w-walking me here," Alphys muttered, shuffling her feet. "I-I will have these d-done as s-soon as I can."

"Take care of yourself," said Lynn, giving the scientist a stern look. "And make sure you go to bed at a decent hour. I really don't feel like getting dragged out of my bed by Undyne, screeching at the top of her lungs about how it's my fault that you collapsed from exhaustion."

That brought a small smile to the monster's face, a slight blush coating her cheeks. "Heh heh heh. Y-yeah. I will. T-thanks again!"

With that, Alphys waved to the two and plodded along the road towards her house. Lynn watched her go for a little while before turning towards the bar and walking in with Sans. A proud smile danced over her lips when as soon as she set foot into the building, eyes taking in the warm and welcoming woodwork and the raised stage that she worked so hard building.

Sans whistled beside her, taking in the same things she was. "wow. you really, uh, did a great job on this. it's better than the last bar we had."

Warmth bloomed in her chest and she grinned down at him. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

He looked up sharply and his breath hitched. Confusion—hah! She was starting to get the hang of reading his face!—twisted his expression and something akin to suspicion reflected in his pupils. When he really examined her expression and saw only sincerity in it, his own relaxed and an easy grin stretched over his teeth.

"I thought I heard you two come in," remarked a voice and the two glanced up to see Grillby leaning against the door frame leading to the kitchen. He was flickering his normal yellow-orange, but hints of amused lavender wove in and out of his fire.

"ey, long time no see grillbz," Sans greeted, casually strolling up to the stool-less bar. "you needed somethin'?"

"Yes," the fire elemental looked at Lynn now, his amusement fading. "I need you two to get the furniture from the human town. I can't drive myself and I have some finishing touches to do here."

"Alright," Lynn agreed, "Where did you order it from?"

Grillby told her and she went through her mental map of the town. She nodded her comprehension when she located the general area it was in.

"I know the area and I should have the restraints and cables I need to move it here."

"Thank you Lynn. You can count yourself hired after we open tomorrow night."

The woman blinked in utter disbelief, lips parting in shock. "I-I... don't know what to say."

Grillby's flame brightened in a smile. "I know you have other responsibilities to take care of around town. But, I would like you to have a position here for when you need a break from pounding in nails."

A wide smile lit up her face. "I think I can do nights, if that's alright. My next building project won't start for a little while yet while we gather up the needed materials." "Excellent. I will see you when you two return."